Video: Jaleel Willis rushes Cedric Doumbe as brawl nearly breaks out at Bellator Paris weigh-ins
Cedric Doumbe and Jaleel Willis nearly started their fight 24 hours early after chaos erupted on stage at the Bellator Paris weigh-ins.
The welterweights didn’t even get a chance to engage in the customary faceoff before a physical altercation took place. As Doumbe set foot on the scale, Willis came over shouting and immediately shoved the former GLORY kickboxing champion.
Jaleel Willis goes after Cédric Doumbé at the #BellatorParis ceremonial weigh-in! pic.twitter.com/d034hTU31W
— MMA Fighting (@MMAFighting) May 16, 2024
Cooler heads prevailed but only momentarily as Doumbe then returned the favor with a shove to Willis after the fighters were finally brought together for the faceoff. Despite the simmering bad blood, one more attempt was made the bring the fighters together and it looked like tensions had calmed down enough for a quick staredown between the fighters.
With Dan Hardy between them, Doumbe and Willis were still jawing at each other, but it appeared the turmoil was over.
That changed in an instant after Willis ducked under the security team previously holding him back and he rushed at Doumbe and returned the shove from earlier. Security rushed in to keep the fighters separated before a full-on brawl could break out on stage.
Despite the ill will between the co-main event fighters, they re-joined Bellator commentator Chael Sonnen on stage a few moments later for an interview.
“F*ck the people’s favorite fighter,” Willis said about Doumbe after the faceoff. “This n**** delusional as f*ck. This man believes he can knock out Anthony Pettis. Are you serious right now? Ya’ll f*cking crazy. Putting hands on this man is the best thing I did all week.”
Doumbe and Willis look to settle their bad blood when the meet in the co-main event at Bellator Paris on Friday.